Month: October 2015

Today we experimented with low-key lighting, using a white backdrop, model on a stool and a single dedo continuous light. We each had a turn using our own cameras and practised taking photos of our classmates. Because of the low light we had to use high ISO and everyone had varying settings because of different camera models and their capabilities.

My camera settings are shown underneath each image – unedited, they would benefit from sharpening and noise reduction. With more time I would experiment with different light angles to minimise the harsh shadows.

I read Salgado’s book – An Archaeology of the industrial age, where he pays homage to the manual labour of all the men and women in the later 20th century. A life which is now only present in the third world countries. He travels all over the world and gets up so close and photographs them in a way it makes you feel like you are there. His black and white images were taken using Leica and Pentax cameras, he used only available light and captured the realness of each moment and how hard each day was for these people. He almost always used Kodak Tri X and he just loved the grainy images it produced. Once he moved to digital Canon cameras he had his tech assistants to use software and add grain to mimic that film.

“Photography is not objective. It is deeply subjective – my photography is consistent ideologically and ethically with the person I am.” – Sebastião Salgado

He encourages other photographers to become knowledgeable about history, geopolitics, sociology etc to enable you to be wise about the world we live in and that will then show in how you take your photos…something which I hope to achieve in my own photography journey.